


Daytripper

by carolion



Series: Cowboy!Cook AU [1]
Category: American Idol RPF
Genre: Alternate Universe, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2011-08-23
Updated: 2011-08-23
Packaged: 2017-10-22 23:44:37
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,397
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/243892
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/carolion/pseuds/carolion
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>All the girls <i>begged</i> their parents to let them go on a trail ride, and promised to be good for like, <i>ever</i> (which David totally knew they weren't going to be), and then his mom had kind of just said "That sounds like fun, I've always wanted to ride a horse!" and that's how he ended up here, hanging on for dear life as the horse underneath him bolted away.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Daytripper

He had known this was a bad idea from the moment Claudia had grabbed at their father's wrist and said "Look dad! Horse back riding!"

The vacation to Tulsa, Oklahoma had been a spur of the moment thing, because his dad had been given some promotional thing, and like, it just worked out that the whole family could go for the week without missing too much school or work. And while it wasn't exactly the destination of David's dreams, it was still a _really_ cool town, and they'd already done, like, a bunch of stuff that David hadn't even expected. There were a couple of museums, and this _awesome_ park, where they'd all played frisbee and tag and had a picnic. But on day three in Tulsa, David and his family had stopped by this kind of touristy shop, and there'd been this, this pamphlet, and Claudia's face had lit up and really, that's when the trouble began.

All the girls _begged_ their parents to let them go on a trail ride, and promised to be good for like, _ever_ (which David totally knew they weren't going to be), and then his mom had kind of just said "That sounds like fun, I've always wanted to ride a horse!" and that's how he ended up here, hanging on for dear life as the horse underneath him bolted away.

David clung to the horse's neck, his fingers knotting in it's wild mane as he tried desperately not to lose his balance. He could sort of hear the concerned shouting of his family, but they were just background noise compared to the sound of thundering hooves and the wind in his ears.

 _'Please,'_ he prayed, _'please, please slow down.'_ And then he thought: _'I'm going to die.'_

It was a weirdly calm thought, his body going totally still with the severity of the idea. He was going to die. They were going to crash, or the horse was going to trip, or he was just going to _fall off_ and he was going to die. This certainly hadn't been how he'd imagined his death going, when his mind wandered to that far-off day, but he felt with total clarity the impending doom on his life. It wasn't even the horse's fault. He'd heard the bee just moments before his horse had squealed, shivered, and _ran_ , like the hounds of Hell itself had been chasing her. (They'd told him his horse was a - a _mare_ , a female horse, when he'd gotten on her. 'Daytripper,' they'd called her, which David had thought was both weird and cool at the same time. 'Call her Daisy, if you want,' one of the trainers had said as he had patted her nervously and climbed aboard.)

The moment Daisy had leapt forward, scared and wide-eyed, David had fallen onto her neck, and that had freaked her out even _more_ and she'd gone even _faster_ and, oh gosh, she wasn't going to slow down, and David didn't even blame her, just sadly acknowledged that she was going to be the cause of his death.

He didn't even register the second set of hoofbeats until he heard a voice nearby saying, "Whoa, whoa, easy there!"

David opened his eyes in surprise (and when had he closed them?) and looked over to see this - this _guy_ , galloping alongside them and _leaning out of his saddle_ trying to grab David's horse, oh my gosh!

"Be careful!" He yelped, jerking up in alarm, at the same time the cowboy said "Stay still!" and snagged the reins from where they had been whipping against Daisy's sides.

The guy said "Hold on, I'm going to slow down," and David felt his horse go from a gallop, to a slightly slower gallop, to a really jarring, bouncy gait ( _'a trot,'_ he remembered from the short intro to horses the family had sat through) and finally they were walking and David could sit up and breathe properly. He was surprised at how difficult it was, even now, to get air into his lungs.

"Are you okay?" And David turned to the guy who had _totally_ saved him, holy smokes, and felt his heart jump to his throat. The man looked really concerned, with this cute little wrinkle in the middle of his forehead, and his lips all pursed all funny and worried. His chest felt really, really tight, and it was still hard to breathe, and it wasn't until the cowboy leaned over again and wiped a rough thumb over David's cheeks that he realized he was _crying_.

"Dang it," he mumbled, swiping an arm across his eyes and face, but his lips were still trembling.

"Are you okay?" The man repeated, sounding even more distressed and David laughed, a little hysterically.

"Yes, gosh, I'm sorry. I just- It was really- And I'm so sorry, oh and- and-" he looked up, and saw really nice eyes, and nice lips, and his heart fumbled around in his chest cavity again. " _Thank you,_ " he managed to say, staring.

The guy let out a long breath, closing his eyes ( _wow_ , he had, um, really nice eyelashes) and taking off his tan cowboy hat to scrub a hand through his hair. "Jesus," he said, and then looked back at David, "I'm the one who should be sorry. Daytripper is _my_ horse."

David gaped for a moment and then rushed to say, "No! No, it wasn't her fault! I mean, there was a bee! And then I, I think I scared her? I didn't know what to do, and she was _so_ fast, have you ever raced her? I mean, she could totally win. But I like, fell on her, and she did this weird, skittery thing? And, I don't know, just, don't punish her! It _so_ wasn't her fault at all!"

The cowboy blinked at him and then laughed, like he couldn't believe it. "Relax, man. I wasn't going to punish her. I just feel really bad. Normally she's a really laid back horse." He paused. "What's your name?"

"David Archuleta," David replied automatically. He looked away from the cowboy's face, which was kind of, um, intense, and looked at where he was holding both his horse's reins, and Daisy's. But then he was looking at the guy's forearms, and, um.

"I'm David Cook." He sounded amused. "You can call me Cook though."

The cowboy, _Cook_ , reached over as if to shake his hand, but David just said "Oh, um, can I just-?" and clung to the saddle horn a little helplessly. Cook grinned, looking like he was trying not to, and said "Sure man, no problem."

 

It was a long walk back to the ranch - wow, they'd really gone a ways, he and Daisy, and he thought about how fast _Cook_ would have had to go to catch up with them and, um, he must be a _really_ good rider. David takes the time to try and watch Cook subtly, even though he's pretty sure Cook totally knows he's being watched, especially because he keeps _smirking_ like that, and looking over and raising an eyebrow at David and making him _blush_. But David still watched him, because Cook was wearing this, like, pink plaid shirt (or maybe it was a light red - David couldn't really tell) and these, um, really tight jeans? And the shirt was rolled up on his arms, and his arms were really, really - they looked strong? And his legs were all long and relaxed and David felt this little shiver of heat race all the way from his chest to his stomach, where it curled up just above his groin. _Oh_.

It wasn't so much that Cook was a guy or anything, because David had made his peace with that a long time ago. It was just, they were in _Tulsa_ and Cook was an actual _cowboy_ with the cowboy hat, and the cowboy boots, and this big, shiny spurs, and this stubble that looked like it might be soft, but David wouldn't mind if it was rough...

Cook looked over at him, then, amused, and David flushed and looked away.

"So, um," he tried, breaking the silence (though still not looking at Cook), "what's that horse's name?" He pointed to the cloudy gray horse that Cook was riding, only slightly grasping for any thread of conversation. To his surprised, Cook actually colored and rubbed a hand across the back of his neck.

"It's, uh, it's Eleanor."

David stared at him. "Eleanor?"

"Eleanor, like, like Eleanor Rigby." David just stared some more, and Cook glared at him, and flicked his ear. "Don't make fun of me!"

"I'm sorry!" David spluttered, and then he was laughing, clutching at the saddle again in an effort not to fall over. "But you have a horse called 'Daytripper' and one called 'Eleanor Rigby'!"

"We are not talking about this," Cook warned, but his face was soft and smiling, and David wasn't laughing any more, just looking at Cook's dark, dark eyes and wondering if his heart had been beating this fast when he'd thought he was going to die.

From there, the conversation flowed freely. Cook told him about some awesome music places in Tulsa, and admitted that he had a band and he sang, and David had begged him to sing, but Cook had refused. David told him about graduating high school, and how he had been accepted to BYU, but he'd rather go to a college with a bigger music department, even though BYU was totally awesome, don't get him wrong. There had been moments where David was talking and he'd look over to Cook, and Cook would be watching him with this really strange, intense expression, like he was memorizing every word, and every action that David did. It always made him stutter and lose his train of thought, his stomach flipping with desire. He could be run off with by a million horses, if he could get Cook to look at him like that forever, he thought, a little wildly.

 

When they returned to the ranch, his dad was talking to one of the trainers, who was nodded gravely and looked serious (gosh, he hoped his dad wasn't like, suing them!), so his mother was the first one to notice. She raced over and practically dragged him from Daisy's back, clutching him and babbling in hysterical Spanish.

"Mom! Mom, calm down! I'm okay, Cook saved me!" He yelped, feeling embarrassed as she hugged him tightly to her.

"Cook?" His mother looked at him, then at Cook, who was dismounting Eleanor and handing both horses to a nervous looking stable hand. He said something too quiet for David to hear, then turned to David's mother.

"Mrs. Archuleta, I apologize-" but his mom interrupted, letting go of David and flinging her arms around Cook instead.

"Thank you! Thank you so much! You saved my baby, oh my gosh, thank you thank you _thank you!_ " Cook looked bewildered and nervous, though he patted David's mom's back gently. "How can we _ever_ repay you, Mr. Cook?" She said, pulling back and wiping at her watery eyes. Cook blanched a little, then gave David a look that made his spine tingle.

"You could come back. Tomorrow. It'll be on the house and," he looked at David, "I can give your son some extra lessons. It's no good to be scared of horses you're whole life because of one bad ride." Then Cook smiled this absolutely _beaming_ grin and David knew he'd never be able to say no, even if he wanted to.

"Baby? Is that okay with you?" His mother asked, stroking his cheek with her thumb. He nodded, his throat tight, unable to look away from Cook. He really hoped- I mean, it had sounded like- and Cook had been staring at him _too_ , so maybe-

"Great! Now, can I talk to your son alone, Mrs. Archuleta? Just a minute, I promise." And David followed him blindly around the barn, to a place where the hay was stacked high and light filtered through the roof in golden beams. Cook was holding onto his elbow, and he felt really warm, and light all over. When they were alone, Cook sort of stared at him, that hot, intense look again, then cupped David's jaw with his rough, calloused hands. David's heart beat wildly in his chest, and he tilted his head up just in time for Cook's mouth to meet his.

It was soft and chaste, just a meeting of two lips, and Cook pulled back way too soon. "Is this okay? I thought - it seemed like maybe you were... But if I'm wrong, I'm sorry." David couldn't say anything, not with Cook's fingers stroking along his face and his jaw like that, so he did what he could which was curl his hands against Cook's chest and lean up to kiss him again.

Cook kissed him harder, then, holding his face gently and keeping him close, close enough that David could feel the tension in Cook's body, the way he was holding back. David tentatively opened his mouth and licked at Cook's lips shyly, just running the tip of his tongue against the seam of Cook's mouth, but Cook groaned and _opened_ for him. It got a lot hotter and wetter after that, and David was kind of dizzy and giddy when Cook finally pulled back, breathing heavily.

"Okay, you need to go," Cook laughed, pushing his cowboy hat up a little. "I may not stop kissing you if you don't."

"Um," David said, "I don't mind?" And Cook had made this strangled sound and just steered him out of the barn, back towards his family.

"I'll see you tomorrow," Cook told him gently, "and we can get some lunch together or something." David hoped that _or something_ meant a whole lot more kissing.

After bundling into the car and listening to his family talk about how scared they'd been and they're own versions of the wild ride, David turned around to watch the ranch disappear behind them from the back window. He could see Cook standing there, watching them leave, until they drove out of sight.

He leaned back and closed his eyes, his heart fluttering in his chest. Almost-nearly-dying on horseback was the greatest thing to ever happen to him - because it led him to Cook.


End file.
